Sausal Creek Trail is a path that cuts through the Oakland Hills starting from a point in the Diamond District near Mac Arthur Blvd and Fruitvale, and stretches up, parallel to Park Blvd, and running all the way to Mountain Blvd and The Warren Freeway. This section of lush greenery attracts many hikers, but of late, it also drew the attention of a man who had no objective related to walking.
A man who came to be called “The Sausal Creek Trail Attacker” had allegedly taken up the rather evil and insane practice of attacking at least one woman last week. The good news is that neighbors had photos and exchanged enough information with Oakland Police to have the man arrested last Friday.
This is the post I saw over at the main neighborhood message board that reported the problem. I am deliberately leaving the names and the message board name itself out of the story. Even though it’s a public forum, the posters tend to think its private, and so I’m going to respect their perceptions.
Woman assaulted today at Sausal Creek, 3/19/15
My dog walker just told me that a 30-year-old woman with a 4-month old baby was assaulted while walking along Sausal Creek this afternoon. The attacker was described as a Hispanic male, 30’s, 5’9 – 5’10, goatee, wearing a white hat, khaki pants, and a blue shirt. OPD is in the area looking for the suspect.
Dear Neighbors,
S and I went to Sausal Creek today where we often take walks. As we walked into the creek bed, there was a woman talking on a cell phone who was carrying a 4 month old baby. Her nose was bleeding and she had a bloody slash across her face. Her baby had her mother’s blood on her head. She was standing next to a woman who warned us not to walk down the path because the woman with the baby had just been punched twice by a man. He punched her out of the blue while walking by. I told them to go to the street in case he came back. I had my daughter sit in the car and waited for the police to arrive. While waiting, we saw the man walking back towards us. I was able to get some pictures of him. He crossed the street and entered into Dimond Park. An officer arrived less than a minute later. I showed him his picture, however he refused to go into Dimond Park and look for the man. He said it was a dangerous situation and he had to wait for backup. That gave him enough time to get away.
Thank you, L
Dear Gs,
Someone may have already looped in our neighborhood rep (do we still have one?) and our local police beat officer (do we still have one?) and our new Mayor. If not, I think we should notify these folks about the problem of safety and the fact that we need help and don’t feel like we’re receiving it from the police. The fact that we don’t even know who to call in if we see this guy is troubling.I’m happy to contact these “authorities” but I don’t really know the whole story or if the victim has more information.
I agree that posting photos of the attacker is a great idea.
Just some early morning thoughts… does anyone know what our local reps are doing or if they can be brought in the loop?
Thanks!Good news. Suspect was apprehended the next day, Friday.
Below is email response from Officer Ladd. Suspect was apprehended.
“Hello
Yes I was the officer who arrived on scene and conducted the investigation.
First Id like to thank you and the community for the concern and willingness to help. So many members of the community assisted in the investigation by attempting to stop and detain the suspect, taking the photos, giving direction to where the suspect fled too.
On Friday the 20th a citizen spotted the suspect and directed myself and an additional officer to his location. We did find and arrest the suspect.
By the help of the community we were able to do our job.
To better help with issues or concerns I recommend attending the community meetings that OPD attends. The problem solving officer assigned to that area is officer belote and if you’d like I can email him to find out when the next meeting is scheduled for.
Thank you for the email and please email back with any questions.
Have a great weekend.”
The bottom line of all of this is to not walk alone. Always have a buddy to go with you, a well-charged cell phone, and your keys, and a can of mace or some kind of aerosol spray. But the main question also is, why do this? What was the deal?